Mon ami le petit manchot

One penguin is a little different than the rest. It gets lost during migration. João Pereira de Souza (Jean Reno) is a fisherman in tropical Brazil. He and his wife have been heartbroken since losing their son a long time ago. He finds the struggling penguin soaked in oil. He nurses it back to health.

This is a sincere feel-good tearjerker inspired by a true story. Inspired usually means highly fictionalized. I would fictionalize a few more things and change one thing around. I would make João a hermit and cancel his wife. It would heighten his loneliness and intensify his losses. Second, I would cut out the opening death scene of his son. Let Jean Reno tell the story instead. Give him his award-tape moment. It really helps to have veteran Jean Reno looking old. I'm not sure about the researchers. Maybe they need the head researcher to play the heavy.